From Surviving to Thriving – A Burnout Story

Burnout! The new buzzword and phenomenon (that meant something completely different in high school) hit my life hard in spring 2019. The concept of physician wellness has gained traction in recent years, but it certainly was not a focus when I started medical school in 2002. I'm not going to provide a lot of definitions, give lists of risk factors, or outline prevention or treatment strategies; that paper has already been written by experts. My goal is to tell the story of what happened to me. I realize that everyone has adversity in their lives through difficulties with family/friends, stress at work, war wounds from training, health issues, or the death of loved ones. These are the very things that led to my burnout. This is simply a personal account of my journey inside and outside of medicine that contributed to burning out, stepping away, growing, rebalancing, reconnecting, and then...